ONEPLUS 7T PRO REVIEW: New Features,Decent Camera Quality With 'Pro' Feature At It's Best

OnePlus' foray into the premium flagship segment of smartphones earlier this year began with the launch of the 7 Pro. It packed the best hardware that Android phones had to offer at the time and managed to deliver some "Pro" features when compared to the OnePlus 7 that followed. Features like a notch-less display with a 90-Hz refresh rate, curved screen and a triple rear-camera setup did justify the massive price bump, but the camera failed to match expectations, leaving fans a bit disappointed.

With the OnePlus 7T Pro, has OnePlus managed to address the few issues and established itself as the maker of a proper, premium smartphone, one that can go neck and neck against Apple and Samsung?

What's new?

The OnePlus 7T Pro is an incremental upgrade to the 7 Pro. Most of the changes are under the hood. There's a new SoC, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+, which is an overclocked version of the original. The triple camera setup on the rear has new shooting modes and that's about it. Since the phone comes with OxygenOS 10 based on Android 10 right out-of-the-box, you’re getting the latest customisation features and improved gestures. The 7 Pro also received a software update, so all those features are now available on the previous phone as well.

The Haze Blue OnePlus 7T Pro. Image: tech2/Abhijit Dey.

There’s only one variant this time in the 8 GB + 256 GB (UFS 3.0) configuration, and in a new colour that they’re calling Haze Blue. Additionally, the company also released a McLaren edition that comes with 12 GB of RAM which has Papaya Orange accents (including software customisations) and a special rear panel design. It costs Rs 58,999 and it comes with a special case as well.

Still Unbeatable

The OnePlus 7T Pro packs the most powerful mobile chipset in the Android world and naturally, its performance is exceptionally good. You aren’t going to face any kind of stuttering or lag in games unless you’re using a poorly optimised app. On top of that, the phone runs on the best version of Android in the form of OxygenOS 10.

I played a lot of games including Asphalt 9: Legends, Injustice 2 and PUBG Mobile. The graphics settings could go up all the way to 60 fps with HDR enabled. There were no hiccups at all. However, the curved display was an annoyance to me as it’s uncomfortable to hold the device in the landscape orientation. Attaching a case gives you a better grip. The phone tends to get warm like every other phone while gaming, but you will still be able to hold it and continue playing. This was after playing PUBG Mobile continuously for an hour.

Whether you’re playing games or watching videos, you will absolutely love the display on this phone. With no notch on the top, you get the entire screen for content in games, and a cropped version in videos. The 90-Hz refresh rate will spoil you and the vibrant colours of the display are amazing. It has a QHD+ resolution (1440 x 3120 pixels) that can be set down to FHD+ (1080 x 2340 pixels) or to auto-switch to the appropriate resolution. To add to that, the dual front-facing speakers are loud enough and clear to not require headphones while watching movies. After spending a day or two watching video content or playing games, you will realise how annoying even a tiny notch can be on the display.

The only complaint I have on the 7T Pro, just like on the 7T, is battery life. I was able to get around seven hours of screen-on time and on the days that I played games for an hour or two, I couldn’t get through an entire day. However, with its Warp Charge 30T fast charging, you can fill up the battery to 50 percent in less than half an hour, and completely charge the device in an hour. When in a hurry, a 15-minute charge will restore up to 40 percent of the battery. Fast charging is crazy on the 7T series but you will have to carry that power brick with you.

Decent camera quality, video recording needs more stability

One of the highlights of the 7T Pro is the rear triple-camera setup that uses the popular Sony IMX586 48 MP primary sensor, in conjunction with a 16 MP ultra-wide-angle lens and 8 MP telephoto lens. The 7T introduced a triple camera setup on the rear as well, however, the sensor array was installed in a horizontal configuration.

TL;DR: The 7T Pro captures sharp images in good lighting conditions with decent background-foreground separation in portrait shots.

I was curious to check how similar the cameras were on the 7 Pro, 7T, and the 7T Pro. And I wasn’t surprised to notice that they captured almost indistinguishable pictures. All the pictures were taken on the latest software update.

The 7 Pro had received the OxygenOS 10 update right before this review and there have been many improvements to the camera.

The colours felt natural in shots taken on the primary camera sensor and it manages to get enough details, but only in well-lit conditions. In sunlight or bright indoor lighting, you wouldn’t have to worry much about focussing on the subject. However, when it gets dark, you will only be able to capture good photos by manually tapping on the area you want to focus on.

In low-light conditions, images lose detail so the camera automatically starts sharpening everything. It tends to get aggressive with reflections when there’s hard light incident on the surface. Highlights are subtle and they don’t look overly blown out.

In OnePlus’ night mode, called Nightscape, the exposure is brought down to reveal details around light sources that tend to be blown out otherwise, but the sharpening becomes too aggressive when there are reflections. It’s still no match to what the Google Pixel 3a achieves with Night Sight though.